One of my co-workers who also owns a s2000 came into my office this morning and dropped two lug-nuts on my desk both of which had broken off. They were the only ones he could find of the 4 that had broken off. I told him I had seen somone post on a forum (I think this one) that a tire shop had put his front tires on the back and visa versa. He said he had just gotten new tires from a really good tire shop and he was pretty sure they wouldn't of done that. He came back later and told me that they had put both of his rear tires on the left side of his car and the front ones on the right side. Estimate was 1500 dollars to fix the damage. He was lucky the lug-nuts broke just after he had gotten off the freeway. He he was only doing about 30mph. So just a reminder of something to check if you have work done on your car involving tire work.

Tom

 

Should also be a reminder that really good shops don't do this. It's why the only shop that touches my S is a 25 mile drive from my home. I'm sure there are other closer good shops but I'm not taking chances on "really good" shops. Sounds like your coworker is confusing "really good" with "familiar brand". Still really sucks though. Hope you coworker is getting proper treatment from the shop to correct the matter.

 

Ouch. I try to only take two wheels to be replaced at a time so as not to have this confusion. Of course, if you don't have another car, it would be difficult to do so.

 

I don't see how switching wheels around front-to-back or side-to-side would cause the wheel studs to fail, the bolt patterns are the same. Putting 245s on the front would likely cause tires to rub, but shouldn't strain the studs. Over torquing the nuts can weaken the studs and cause them to break, perhaps that's what caused the failure. It's about $350 to replace a rear stud, cause you have to remove the hub and replace the bearing (a press fit). $1500 must be to replace all 4 corners? Something doesn't seem right here.

 

The rear wheels don't fit over the front hub so the wheel can't sit flush againt the rotor. He likely damaged more than just the studs when his front wheel fell off at 30 mph.